Samarco to pay 24 bln reais in damages for dam disaster -govt memo

BRASILIA, March 2 (Reuters) - Mining company Samarco agreed
with the Brazilian government to pay over 24 billion reais ($6.2
billion) in damages for a deadly dam spill in November, an
environment ministry memo seen by Reuters on Wednesday said.

The memo said Samarco would pay 4.4 billion reais through
2018 into a government fund to cover the clean up caused by the
spill of a tailings dam. Samarco is a joint venture between Vale
SA and BHP Billiton.